Trees Preferring to Grow in Sandy or 

 Rocky Soil: Hillsides and Barrens. 



" Father, thy hand 

 Hath reared these venerable columns, thou 

 Didst weave this verdant roof. Thou didst look down 

 Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose 

 All these fair ranks of trees. They, in thy sun, 

 Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze, 

 A nd shot towards heaven. The century-living crow 

 Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died 

 Among their branches, till at last, they stood, 

 As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark, 

 Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold 

 Communion with his maker." 



A Forest Hymn. BRYANT. 



PERSinriON. DATE-PLUM. {Plate CXXVI.) 



Diospfros Virginiana. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOi* 



Ebony. Round-topped; branches^ 20-60 feet or Rhode Island south- May, June. 



spreading or pendulous. higher. ward to Fla. and Fruit; Sept. -Nov, 



westward to Illinois. 



Bark : almost black or tinged with red ; rough and divided into plates ; as- 

 tringent. Leaves: three to five inches long ; simple ; alternate ; with short, 

 pubescent petioles ; broadly-lanceolate or oval, with pointed apex and pointed, 

 rounded or cordate base ; dark green and lustrous above, pale and dull under- 

 neath ; thick ; the whole leaf bordered with a delicate fringe, and pubescent 

 when young. Flowers : small ; greenish yellow ; the staminate ones mostly 

 clustered, the pistillate ones, solitary; axillary. Calyx: four-parted. Corolla: 

 bell-shaped ; four-cleft. Fruit : globose ; almost sessile ; astringent when 

 green; when ripe reddish orange or rusty brown ; edible; sweet; clinging to 

 the branches until the beginning of winter. 



In the fresh, green days of its youth, the fruit of the persim- 



